nuffnang

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Day became night, and night became day. My routine attending the English classes ended when I was accepted to enter an international university (but situated locally).When I first knew about it, a mixed feeling occurred inside me. I didn’t know how to interpret the feeling. Though, I could tell that I was happy indeed. And maybe a little scared to go through a new journey in life.

I had to re-establish myself, find new friends, build new trusts towards all those strangers that I would meet at the university.Life had to go on. And so the same with me. I looked forward to further my studies at the university with a new and fresh attitude. I wanted to put aside all my shyness. I wanted to learn more about socializing. I wanted to know how it felt like to have a boyfriend. (ha-ha).The day when I registered, I came along with my parents. But I insisted that they should leave me immediately after they helped me carry up my belongings to my apartment (sha-la-la… apartment, eh? nice, eh)?I wanted to be independent, and I really meant it. I wanted to prove that I am not a shy and timid teenager anymore. I wanted to open up, and be more friendly.So, my parents agreed to my wish and they left me. Much to my surprise, I found out that once you’re left with nobody to rely on, you will soon discover that you have to depend on yourself.I was amazed at how friendly and talkative I was. I felt very comfortable, and I felt glad that so far I had met a number of new faces. They were all very friendly too. I was relieved that I finally decided to open up.My apartment was very cozy. 15 students lived in one apartment, but it was large and we didn’t feel crowded at all. Our apartment were equipped with a kitchen, a spacious hall, and double decker but very comfortable beds.

I was very fortunate because I was placed in a room attached with its own bathroom and toilet. Only two students occupied the room, me and a girl named Aishah (not real name, okay).I thanked God, and I was very grateful. There were nothing else I wanted to ask. I felt very comfortable and happy living and studying at the university.Aishah and I got along very well. We became best friends immediately. I felt as if Aishah was my own sister. We shared secrets that we never told anybody about. I couldn’t tell how happy I was being there.Aishah told me that she had a boyfriend. But her boyfriend was way much older than her. And a sad thing to say, he was already married.I wanted to tell her to dump him. I knew her relationship would not end in a blessing. But I didn’t want to break her heart so I just encouraged her to be strong and try to face the reality. And I told her to consider the consequences of being involved with somebody’s husband.She accepted my advice, and we became closer than ever. We went for outing together, and usually we went window shopping. For hours we browsed through the many shopping complexes and looked at those pretty dresses and shoes.Although we were very close, we were not in the same course at all. I was in the accounting stream while Aishah was in the law stream. We never attended the same class.I often took brunch (breakfast + lunch) during break at about 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. At lunch hour, I would usually skip lunch and go back to my room to take a short nap before classes started again at 2:00 p.m.One day as usual I went back to my room to take a nap. Aishah was there relaxing on her chair and facing the study table.Because I was very tired, I just greeted her shortly and (boom!) I collapsed on the bed. Immediately I dozed off.But something very, very frightening happened to me at that moment. It was the beginning of an eerie experience that really made me terrified.As soon as I dozed off, I felt as if my soul was taken away from my body. I tried to move but nothing happened.

Suddenly, I heard a male voice. The voice appeared to be addressing his attention towards me. His voice was very powerful, loud and echoed throughout the entire bedroom.He said, “For time’s sake, people are always in loss. Except for those who remind each other with patience, and to remind each other with righteousness.”I panicked. The voice repeated his sayings, over and over again. I tried to read Al-Qursi, the powerful verse that can chase away all ghosts. But I was in a tounge-tied condition, and I forgot the exact order of the verse. The reading became a mess.The voice laughed louder and louder. He said:“Read… and read more. You can read as much as you wished, but you can never get rid of me.”His voice was everywhere. My heart became weak and my body became limp. I was overpowered by terror, and I didn’t know what else to do.Through the panic, I realized that Aishah wasn’t aware of what was happening to me. Immediately I knew that it must be a ghost’s attack and it meant personally to me.I could clearly see Aishah, still sitting quietly on her chair and facing the study table. I couldn’t understand how I could see Aishah if it was true I was dreaming. At that point I knew that my soul was outside my body and it has to come back before it was too late.I screamed out for help. I called Aishah repeatedly, begging her to help me.But still, Aishah didn’t see anything. She didn’t know what was happening.I cried deeply. What should I do? Aishah wasn’t a help at all, because she didn’t know! She couldn’t help me!

I knew I had to force myself to fight the ghost. Only I can save myself. There was nobody to turn to at that time. I had to do something. Anything. I was desperate.I forced myself to be brave. I must. I focused my energy to fight the ghost. It was then laughing and my ears almost became deaf of its terrifying, loud and echoing voice.I pulled myself together and started to read the Al-Qursi verse from the start. I started slowly, trying very hard to focus and making sure it was in the right order.I knew each and every word in the surah is very powerful. It will burn every satan in the world if I pronounce it correctly and with confidence. And I knew the last line of the Al-Qursi is the most powerful.When I came to the last line of Al-Qursi, I read it with all my heart and with the fullest confidence. I repeated the line over and over again without stutter.Suddenly, the laugh stopped abruptly.I felt a current of like electricity run throughout my body and it moved downwards towards my right leg.The current moved towards my biggest toe and it escaped from my body through there.Immediately I felt a huge relief.My body was light again, not heavy like before. I could move again.As soon as I opened my eyes, I jumped out of bed and hugged Aishah.“Shanis! What happened? Why are you shivering so terrible?” Aishah asked, a little shocked to see my face so white.

“I’m scared. I don’t know how to explain this. But I feel as if somebody or something is trying to harm me. And I had the feeling that it wanted to hunt me for a bad reason. I’m scared, Aishah. Very scared,” I answered, still hugging her. At that time I felt I would only be safe if I clung to her.“You must be dreaming. Just now I saw you sleeping

This indicent happened during I was waiting for my SPM examination result. I had managed to graduate from the spooky boarding school, and then I stayed at home for approximately half a year before I was accepted to one of the higher learning institutions.

During the waiting period, I took English lessons. So I had to take a bus to my class. I spent one and a half hour in the bus. A lot of exciting incidents had happened to me while I was in the bus. One of them was a hilarious one, I just couldn’t forget it until now.

One day after my English class ended, I had to stay back a little while to complete my last minute assignment. Because of that, I missed my regular bus and had to take another bus.

The bus was crowded, and I didn’t find an empty seat. I was very tired, and I didn’t realize that I actually dozed off while standing. When I woke up, a punjabi man was smiling right infront of my face. You know what? I was sleeping peacefully and I had landed my head right on his big stomach!

Urghh! What a shame. But it was indeed very funny. Every time I remembered that incident, I would laugh until tears appeared at the corners of my eyes. Ha ha ha.

Ok. Enough for the ordinary experience. Now I am going to tell you about what really did happen to me at that time.

After I graduated from the boarding school, I came back home. My bedroom had been left for 2 years, and when the first time I entered it, I did feel a bit spooky. But after cleaning up the room, I felt okay. So, I didn’t worry much.

However, when I started to attend my English classes, I started to experience some strange happenings in my own bedroom. I don’t know how I want to explain it to you, but everytime when I entered my bedroom, I would feel a gush of movement coming towards me. As if someone or something inside the room had always waiting for me there.

And I felt as if the thing really wanted me to be with it. The gush of movement always attacked my face area, and it was a feeling of welcome, but at the same time, terrifying.

I usually felt it when I entered the room after I came back from classes. I could feel like it missed me, somehow.

But I tried to ignore the feeling. I thought it was just my thinking, and nothing else. So, I live with that thought for almost a month. And, nothing scary actually happened during that time.

One night, I felt quite uneasy. I was worried but for no reasons at all. I kept thinking about something, but I didn’t know what it was.

I tried to get rid of the feeling, but it wouldn’t get away. Finally, I dozed off after being so tired thinking.

In my sleep, I dreamt. It was the strangest dream ever. I felt locked in my own dream. I tried to escape, but it was useless. I kicked and pushed and did everything. Nothing happened. It was like being prisoned in faraway land where nobody can ever rescue me.

Suddenly I remembered to recite several religious verses. I collected all my effort and read every verse that I could remember. Inch by inch, I felt the lock began to loosen up.

Maybe it sounded illogic, but I felt like the dream was not a dream, but a reality. I could feel everything. The tightness of the lock, my restricted ability to move. And when I started to read the verses, I could exactly feel my muscles loosen up and could be moved again.

At that particular moment, I managed to wake up. I opened my eyes wide. I lay there, thinking what had happened to me.

But I hadn’t any chance to think anymore than 2 seconds.

Suddenly, a pair of heavy hands grabbed my back and pushed me to sit up on the bed. I was really shocked! I felt like I was getting crazy!

What in the hell was that hands? What?

My heart pounded heavily. I couldn’t think wisely at that time. I knew it was a pair of hands, but later I couldn’t see anything at my back.

That night, I didn’t sleep. I switched on the lights until morning came.

Until now, I didn’t tell anybody about this experience. Not even to my parents. Because I knew they would never believe me.

If you want to leave a comment, please do so. Leave your email address so I could reach you if there are any latest experience that I want to share with you.

During the semester break, I got involved in a lot of tuition classes. My add maths were so terrible that I had to find somebody who could explain to me the crazy concepts of all those confusing formulas. I just couldn’t accept the fact that once you learn a formula, you have to twist and turn it around 360 degrees to get the answer.

Being an uncreative person (from the perspective of numbers, okay) I struggled to comprehend the simplest calculation of add maths with a tutor brought home by my parents. Hopefully I could impress both of them if I just (passed?) the add maths SPM exam. Wow… that’s terrible. Real terrible. What to do? I’m just not gifted with numbers.

I also attended sewing classes just to fulfill my mother’s request. Well, in fact as time passed by, I did enjoy learning sewing. I got new friends, and we got along pretty cool together.

Hmmm… time passed by quickly. At last, the semester break was already twiggling its tail. And I was sitting on the tail, trying to balance my coordination.

Well, at least that was my description of how painful it was to go back to school. I kept on worrying… and I had strong reasons to be worried.

What would happen next? Please God, don’t let any more strange things to happen this semester. I had to focus on my studies, and I don’t want those black evils to invade my sanity. Hurrgh!! I was beginning to feel insane already!

Finally the day did show up. The day which I had to go back to the spooky boarding school. The school that everybody bragged about. About its excellent reputation. Straight 100% passes each and every year. Let me repeat that. Not even a single student failed from that boarding school.

Sha-la-la. That’s the place I was heading that day. So, I began repacking my belongings into my forever big bag. My parents sent me to the bus station, and (walla!) I was on my way back to school.

Stepping back onto the grounds of the school, my eyes roamed uneasily but with intention. I had to find my cube-mates. I didn’t want to enter my cube alone, for the fear of being alone in there was not a pleasant story to tell.

I was very lucky, I guess, because without much effort I saw my cubemates (the three stooges) walking side-by-side with bags on their sides. I pulled a huge grin, and walked straight to them.

“Hey, you’re here already! And you have gained some weight… chocolates, huh?” Asked one of the girls, returning my huge grin with another bigger grin and a pinch on my cheeks. Her name is Zura.

“Ha-ha. Maybe. To the cube?” I asked, straight to the point. I wished I could say something much more, maybe a joke or two… but I just can’t think of anything funny. I felt a little miserable, but I held on to my fake smile even longer.

“Of course. We could go for tea afterwards, okay?” answered Zura, with a bright smile and cheerful mood.

“Okay.” I nodded, with the smile still pasted on my face. That was the only answer I could think of at that time. But I figured out that the girls understood me by then. They knew I was naturally shy.

So we went straight to our cubes to put our bags. We chatted a little while, sitting on the floor in the middle of the cube where the fan was directly above our heads.

”Tomorrow night there’ll be a special dinner at the dining hall. Everyone is required to wear batik sarong. I’ve just heard the news from our head prefect, and thank God I’ve brought with me a new piece of batik sarong,” said Yani, one of the girls.

“Well, I don’t have a new one. But with ironing, it will be okay. Shanis, do you have to iron your sarong? If you do, I want to come along with you to the ironing room,” said one of the other girls to me. Her name is Shima.

“Okay.” I nodded in agreement.

That night, we went together to the ironing room. The room was fully packed. It seemed like ages to wait for my turn. I got number 15. Shima’s was number 16.

“I don’t want to wait this long. What about we go back and set the alarm clock at 3:00 a.m.? I’m sure nobody will be around at that hour,” Shima suggested with an annoyed face.

I understood why Shima was annoyed. We had been waiting for one hour. We were tired, there were still some revisions to be done and tomorrow we had to get up early to attend classes.

“Sure.” I said with several nods.

Exactly at 3:00 a.m., the alarm woke us up.

Both of us raced to the ironing room. Nobody was there. We inhaled relieved breaths.

“Can I iron first?” asked Shima, her sarong already spread on the long table and the iron was already in her hands.

I smiled at her, feeling a bit funny. “Of course. You go ahead. I’ll sit here and wait.” I sat on one of the four arranged beds in the room.

I looked at Shima but she didn’t say anything. She quickly ironed her sarong. Maybe the coldness of night made her want to crawl back into her blanket as soon as possible.

Suddenly my sleepy head was interrupted. I felt somebody else was sitting on another bed, right in front of me. I opened my eyes.

“Rafidah? What are you doing here?” I asked, surprised to see her.

Rafidah didn’t say a word, but she raised a piece of batik sarong for me to see. I understood what she meant. She wanted to iron her batik sarong for tomorrow night’s function.

Shima turned her head a little. “You know her?”

I shrugged a little. Actually Rafidah was not my classmate. Not even my blockmate. She lived in block A, and my block was block E. I only knew her because she was my homeroom mate. We share the same mentor.

“Yes. She’s my homeroom mate.” I answered, realising that was the first time I actually spoke to Rafidah.

“In that case, can I go back? You have a friend to accompany you,” said Shima. She had finished ironing, and she looked at me for approval.

“Okay. No problem. You go ahead. Rafidah can accompany me,” I said sincerely.

Now I was left alone with Rafidah. I looked at her at a glance, but she kept her head down and she seemed like staring at the floor. I guessed she must be sleeping. At 3:00 a.m., who wouldn’t fall asleep?

I didn’t say a word but hurriedly spreaded my batik sarong on the ironing table. I wanted to finish the chore and go back to my cube to continue my sleep. I could imagine Shima was already under her blanket by then.

The ironing room became too quiet, and I felt a little uncomfortable. Maybe I should say something to Rafidah.

“Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be ironing in your own block? Are you sleeping over a friend’s cube here? If a warden knows about this, you’ll be in trouble.” Out of nowhere, a lot of sentences came out from my mouth. I felt strange, because usually I don’t talk much. Maybe I was still in my dreaming phase, I thought.

But Rafidah kept quiet. She just shrugged a little. That was all she did. But I caught her staring at me when I turned around a moment to see her face. I thought that stare was a bit awkward.

Suddenly I felt very cold. But I didn’t think about anything strange, maybe because I was too sleepy and too lazy to think about anything. I did the ironing as fast as I could.

“It’s your turn,” I turned around, looking at Rafidah who was still sitting on the bed but then her head she bent down.

My first intuition told me to leave Rafidah. She didn’t make any promise with me to iron her batik sarong in the middle of the night. So, I didn’t have any obligation to wait her there.

However, deep in my heart I pitied her. She seemed like a lonely girl. In fact, she was more lonely than me. At least I have my room-mates. But Rafidah? She had to brave herself in the middle of the night to iron her batik. Nobody wanted to accompany her.

“Do you want me to wait for you?” I asked, but with a little annoying tune. I didn’t know why I sounded like that, and immediately I regretted my rudeness. Rudeness has always surfaced when I tried to overcome my shyness to speak to a person.

Rafidah kept her silence, but she shook her head. She smiled at me and slowly raised and went to the ironing table. She went to work right away.

Seeing her feeling very comfortable being alone, I didn’t want to probe her any longer. My sleepy eyes are more important to be attended to. I left her there, without any feeling of guilt.

I raced to my cube. I wanted to continue sleeping. I opened the door of my cube and entered. I sat on my bed, and grabbed a pillow. Suddenly, I remembered something.

“My hanger!” I sat straight on my bed and slapped my cheeks. My clothes hanger was left in the ironing room. I had forgotten to pick it up. I knew I had to take it back, because it was one of my favorite hangers. It was pink in colour and it was brand new.

Quickly, I dashed to the ironing room. But this time, I was a little careful for I was alone.

To get to the ironing room, I had to pass one cube and one toilet. The ironing room was next to the toilet. So, the distance of the ironing room was very near from my cube. If I ran, I would take only 10 seconds to reach the ironing room.

When I entered the ironing room, Rafidah was no longer there. I frowned. She must be very efficient. Not more than a minute had passed by before I came back to the ironing room.

I quickly picked up the hanger and walked out of the ironing room. When I passed the toilet, I heard the sound of someone doing laundry. I frowned again. Who in the heck want to do laundry at 3:00 a.m.? I peeped inside.

It was Rafidah, brushing on a piece of batik sarong. She let the water running from the pipe, and she held the batik sarong under the pipe water. Red water ran out from the batik. It looked exactly like someone washing a blood stained piece of cloth.

I didn’t think anything strange at that time. I just thought, maybe Rafidah had to wash the batik because it had been stained with her menstrual blood. It was possible. But a thought occurred to me. Wasn’t she scared being alone in the toilet? With the block’s eerie reputation, nobody would want to be alone, especially at odd hours.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to accompany you?” I asked again, this time really offering to accompany her. I looked at her, who was very busy scrubbing and brushing the blood-stained batik sarong.

Rafidah didn’t answer. But she seemed uneasy, as if she didn’t want me to be with her.

“Aren’t you scared being alone in the middle of the night? In the toilet? Washing clothes full of blood? Can’t you wait at least until morning to do it?” I asked, suddenly feeling concerned. I looked at her, waiting for an answer. I pitied her, and I really wanted to help her.

Suddenly, Rafidah looked up at me. She glared at me with such a hatred that I was shocked by it. She looked very, very angry and at that time I knew she wanted to be left alone and she really meant it. I backed off.

“Okay. I’m sorry. Just go ahead and continue,” I said as politely as I could, and stepped out of the toilet. Then, I walked straight to my cube and continued sleeping. I didn’t think of anything strange. I was too sleepy to even think.

The next morning, classes were fully-packed and my days went by busily. I had no time to think about Rafidah until a week later. It was only when Rafidah didn’t show up for our homeroom meeting that I suddenly thought of going to her cube, just to say hello.

I went to her cube, after asking around. See, I didn’t even know her exact cube. We were not close at all.

“Hello. May I see Rafidah?” I asked one girl who was sitting on her bed. She must be Rafidah’s cube-mate.

“What do you mean… Rafidah?” The girl asked, with a frown. She looked funny, as if I had missed a very important current issue that everyone else had known a long time ago.

“I want to see Rafidah. She didn’t attend our homeroom meeting. So, I came here just to check out if she’s okay,” I answered truthfully.

“Didn’t you know?” The girl asked again, with a puzzle unsolved on her face.

“Know about what?” I asked, curious and somehow worried. Had something bad happened to Rafidah?

“You didn’t know, huh? Well… I’ll tell you. Rafidah didn’t even register for this semester. She was sick last semester, and her parents brought her home.” The girls answered.

“What…? Didn’t register? She is not even here?” I asked, panic started to overwhelm my whole body. Cold sweat started to run down my forehead. I couldn’t control my body. I trembled.

“Yes. She’s not here. She’s faraway, at her hometown.”

My head spinned like crazy. Whoever that I met at the ironing room and the toilet, I just didn’t want to think about it.

I ran back to my block and straight to Shima. I told her the whole story. She was shocked too, but not as shocked as me. She only had a glance at Rafidah, and she didn’t even recognize her face.

But, I did. The ‘Rafidah’ glared straight into my eyes. I talked to her. Stood next to her. Accompanied her in the toilet. Even talking about it now made me shiver tremendously.

Who was the girl? I knew it was Rafidah. But how could she be Rafidah? Rafidah didn’t even register!

Oh God. Thank you because you protected me from harm. I was lucky that ‘Rafidah’ didn’t show her true colour in front of me. If she did, I don’t know what I would be. Might probably I would go cuckoo (crazy, of course)!

That was another true experience I would never forget. Until now, it is still fresh in my mind. Every bit of the incident, I remembered it like it was just yesterday.

Well guys, till another true story… have a meaningful day for all of you. Adios.

I had been studying in the hostel for one semester then. Everything seems to become normal to me. I have met new friends. Classes were smooth, and nothing abnormal happened to me throughout the semester.

Students were all chattering away, as the last exam paper ended that afternoon. Some were packing their belongings, and some were just hanging around waiting for the last minute to pack their things. All of us were going back home for the semester break. Or maybe it is more suitable to call it a holiday, because it was a one and half month’s break.

I was one of the students who were still the shy type. I quietly packed my things into my big bag. My other three friends had finished packing, so they were now chatting with each other excitedly.

All of them came from the same city. Therefore, they speak the same dialect. As for me, I come from further down the map. So, mostly I don’t quite fully understand them word per word. I only understood the whole context of their conversation.

But I knew they were very excited because that day all of them will go home. The school had divided us into two trips - The students who live in the northern area will be sent by school bus one day earlier than the students who live in the southern.

I was happy for them. But I had been thinking to myself quite a number of time lately. What will happen to me tonight?

I made my own calculation. It was unfortunate that all my close friends were from the northern. Maybe because they were the nearest people around me. All the cubes in my line were occupied from northern students, except me.

Well, I have been thinking of asking a classmate to accompany me that night. But that particular girl has never spoken to me before, and I am not the type of person who knows how to start a conversation without being labeled as rude.

Heck. People always have this interpretation when they first knew me. Many people said I am rude to them. But.. I don’t understand why they said that. Well, I don’t want to give them a damn care. Better still if I mind my own business.

So, I decided that I was going to spend the night alone in my cube. It had been a long semester, and nothing had happened during that long time. I was sure nothing strange would happen to me that night.

The day passed by mercifully. I finished packing my things, and I went down to wave goodbye to all my northern friends.

It was already eight p.m. then. I didn’t have dinner, because I didn’t find any friends to accompany me. So, I went straight to my cube. I intended to read a good story book so that I would kill the time effortlessly.

Hah hah. Actually I was scared! But I had nothing else to do. There was nobody to turn to, and the remaining students were far away downstairs.

Stuck up with my extreme shyness, I closed the door of my cube. I left the lights on and I instantly jumped onto the bed. I opened a thick story book, and began reading.

I tried to focus on the reading, and to immerse in the story. I don’t want to think about anything else but the story.

After a while, I began to enjoy the reading and my mind began to relax. Soon afterwards, I began to feel sleepy.

I looked at the watch. It was almost midnight. Sometimes the creepy feeling crawled into my nerves but I tried to ignore it because it was the only clever thing to do.

I lay down on the bed, and still reading. I hoped in that way, I would be able to fall asleep. And to my surprise, I dozed off.

It was what happened after I woke up that made me shiver all over. It was 3 or 4 am. As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw a black cat gazing down at me right in front of me.

Its two front legs were on my chest, and its two hind legs were on the bed. Its eyes didn’t blink even a bit, and its glare made all the hair on my skin stood on ends.

Out of nowhere, a feeling of rage suddenly gathered in my chest. I collected all the energy that was left in me, and screamed my lungs out.

“You devil! Son of devil! God will send you to hell!” I didn’t know why I said that, but I felt like it was the natural thing to say at that moment.

I pushed the cat off with all my might and I didn’t dare to see where it ran to. I just prayed that the cat would not come again.

Soon, the cat disappeared out of sight. At that time, I realized several strange things had happened.

I looked around the cube. It was dark, and obviously the lights were off. Didn’t I left the lights on the whole night? I was sure the light was still on when I lay on the bed.

Who turned the lights off? Who?

I looked at the door. It stood there, ajar.

Who opened it?

I had locked the door. I remembered very clearly. I had locked the door, sat on the bed and opened the book.

My heart began beating real fast. I must run away from this terrible fear. But, where to? At this hour, who would want to open her door if I knock?

Nobody!

As fast as I could, I reached the plug and switched on the lights. I locked the door, but this time I sat straight on my bed. I don’t want to read anything. I wanted to be alert.

If something happened again, I wanted to be ready.

“This time, I am going to be ready,” I thought about that again and again.

I sat there, rocking back and forth to overcome my fear until the first hint of dawn appeared. Soon afterwards I began to hear footsteps from downstairs, footsteps of the girls going to the toilet to wash up and start a new day.

I quickly went to the toilet, washed up and prepared myself to go home. I took my bag with me, and never dared to turn back.

I skipped my breakfast, and sat in the foyer building until the bus came. I would never forget that incident, ever.

My parents waved at me sadly as they stood outside the hostel compound. I waved back at them, and tears started to run down my cheeks. Suddenly I felt so lonely. Who will make friends with me? Will I be accepted by the so-called “brainy students” of this renowned boarding school?

I watched in tears as my parents moved away slowly. Then, I climbed the stairs up to my cube (room with 4 beds). Three other girls are already there, chatting along quite friendly to each other.

I stared at them with a bit of terror, for I am a very shy girl. It is very hard for me to start a conversation without somebody else starting it for me. I felt tongue-tied, and I said nothing to overcome the feeling of embarrasment.

Soon, the three girls got up and came near me. It was obvious they wanted to say something. I prepared myself with such a disguised dignity to hide my shyness.

“Tonight everyone is ordered to gather at the mosque,” one of the girls told me.

“But I can’t go. Menstrual, you see?” I objected, with a caution eye. I’m afraid the girls will not believe my excuse. But actually it’s true. I was having my menstrual and thus prohibited from entering a mosque.

“But all of us are going. In fact, we’re going there right after dinner. Aren’t you coming along?” The other girl added.

“Well… you guys go ahead. Maybe I’ll catch up later,” Somehow feeling unwelcome, I rejected their invitation with the hardest effort to be polite.

“Ok. Good-bye. We’re going.” Off the girls went.

“Bye.” I whispered to nobody as the girls’ footsteps echoed along the corridor, leaving me alone in the cube. My eyes started to roam around the room. Spooky feelings started to invade my so-very-little braveness.

I sat at my bed, legs bent up so that my knee touched my chin. Suddenly I began to regret not to follow the girls. The cube was in fact a little spooky. I don’t know how to describe it, but the temperature began dropping bit by bit.

Suddenly I was shivering. It was really cold. Outside, the sun set and the moon took its place.

I felt terrible. I got up of bed, running towards the door. I wanted desperately to have a companion with me. And I hoped someone else was in her cube, not attending the mosque ceremony due to menstrual, just like me.

I strolled along the corridor. Panic started to attack me. The surroundings of the block made me want to scream.

“Why is it so dark? Don’t they have electricity?” I yelled to myself to calm down. Not bothering to knock any doors, I opened one after one door, desperate to meet someone. Just anyone.

But nobody was around, except for me.

My world began to spin. I was in a huge panic. I was alone! In an old, spooky block! With all the electricity shut down, except from my own cube!

“God, help me.” I don’t know how to explain, but suddenly all my hair stood on end. I ran back to my cube and locked the door.

Suddenly, something very strange happened in front of my two eyes.

The electricity suddenly went off. My eyes drifted to the window of my cube. A strong and powerful light appeared from outside the window, and I knew there was nothing out there to result in a light so powerful.

My knees were shaking real hard, when suddenly something moved outside the window and resulted in a huge shadow. The ‘thing’ moved from right to left, and left to right, all throughout the entire window.

Too panicked, I dashed out of the cube. Since it was my first day at the boarding school, I haven’t learned my way around.

Not knowing where to go, I stood exactly at the front door with the door opened wide. I dared not go outside, but still I dared not step inside the cube.

I wanted to go to the mosque, but I don’t know where it was. Everywhere is dark, except for the light and the huge shadow at the window.

I cried, and I cried endlessly. I prayed and prayed for the terrifying moment to end. I closed my eyes, not daring to look anywhere for the fear of suddenly seeing something.

I stood there for one solid hour. Every inch of my body ached, because I was afraid to move. My grip on the door was like glued and my hands were as hard as arthritis hands.

I stood there like ages when the first sound of footsteps started to enter the block. The sound was like a new life to me. I was relieved, very much relieved because everybody is back from the mosque. And much more strange, all light is naturally on again.

“When we were at the mosque, somebody told us,” said one of the girls to me when we were all in the cube.

“What?” I said.

“Sometimes strange things happen in our block when there is nobody around. But I don’t believe it. Anyway, you did go to the mosque just now, didn’t you?” the girl asked.

“Why do you say that?” I asked, my heart beating fast.

“Don’t bluff. I saw you sitting at the back chewing on your fingernails.” The girl grumped a little, and looked at the other two girls. The girls nodded, in approval.

I hugged the girl in front of me, shaking tremendously. And I told her what happened that night.

Hello everybody. My name is Shanis, and I am here to tell you about scary ghost stories that's happening around me. Most of them are my own experiences. Some of them are real ghost stories related to me, and the rest are stories from my family and friends. I've some others translated from local books too.

Everything that happened around me made me pause and think, maybe God wants me to do something about all these scary experiences that bothers me all this while. Hmm... so I've decided to share all these stories with all you readers out there.

I hope I am able to deliver them to you with the maximum impact. And I am really hoping you'll enjoy reading them. I want you to think of them as a type of entertainment, and don't feel scared to read more of my stories.

Just put your gear on, and make sure you are ready for the scary entertainment which awaits you just seconds away. My passion for writing these ghost stories are flaming real fierce, and I hope you will enjoy all of them. And there'll be more coming...

Read them, live in them and dream about them if you wish, and you'll discover a new world of ghostly ghost stories here in my site.